Co Kerry home is medieval, yet modern and truly unique

Trish Dromey reports on a modern family home that has influences of medieval and Tudor heritage.

Firies, Kerry €400,000

Sq m 353 (3,800 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 4/5

Bathrooms: 3

BER: B3

ON THE outside this Kerry property is a spacious and attractive modern dormer style home — on the inside it’s a medieval manor with a great hall decorated with swords, shields, armour and animals skins.

A highly individual residence, it was designed by a returned emigrant who developed a passion for Tudor architecture while living in the UK and was able to give free rein to this interest when he moved his family to Gurraun near Firies in 2004.

Building on a site of three acres which had once belonged to his grandfather, the owner, a civil engineer and contracts manager, started out with smaller collection of medieval style items, a house plan he’d been working on for a few years and a wish list.

The main item on his wish list was a grand hall with a double height vaulted ceiling and a minstrels gallery.

For this he created a 20 ft long oak floored room, added candelabra style light fittings and put in an enormous redbrick fireplace with a timber mantle and stove.

Pride of place above the inglenook fireplace goes to a Black Forest bear skin which the owner brought back from a holiday in Prague.

Also on the walls are a pair of crossed halberds, several swords and shields, red deer antlers, a crossbow and a full-size suit of armour.

“The armour came from Barcelona — I bought it on the last day of a holiday at a time when you didn’t have to worry about weight on airplanes — we took it apart and divided it up into four suitcases — which were heavy,” reveals the owner.

At the other end of the great hall/lounge is the overhead gallery which has been put to use as a library and has been decorated with a deerskin.

Located at the rear of the 3,800 sq ft T-shaped property, the great hall is the largest room and the one with the strongest medieval influence although there are period style features and ornaments in several rooms.

In the hallway above the stairs there’s a large, rather impressive medieval-looking tapestry which was made by the lady of the house while many rooms have Gothic style chandeliers.

The dining room also has a gothic look, having been furnished with reproduction Tudor style furniture and carved candlesticks.

More modern rooms include a large timber-floored sitting room at the front of the house which has patio doors and views of the MacGillycuddy Reeks.

The kitchen, designed by the owner, is a spacious bright room with oak units and a glazed sunroom section. The ground floor also has a utility room and a large en suite master bedroom.

The upstairs has a bathroom and three large bedrooms as well study/hobby room with a giant map of the world papered on to the wall. Off the front landing there’s a balcony with mountain views.

Although the owner has a wide range of interests, his main hobby is gardening and over the last 14 years he has transformed the fields around the house.

In addition to some one-hundred-year-old trees which lined the site, he planted up to a hundred more including six cherry trees which have just come into blossom.

Located four kilometers from Firies, the property is now on the market Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean with a guide of €400,000.

Auctioneer Hilary Stephenson says this offers good value for a spacious modern property with a large site and a high B3 energy rating. She has been getting interest from buyers in Killarney, which is 20km away and also in Tralee — 13km away.

VERDICT: Extra spacious and truly unique